Tea and Biscuits
by dreamboateyes
Summary: "You want me to what?" "To aid me in spiking the drinks with Truth Serum at Slughorns holiday party." "Being bad and pranking people on a whim may work out for you Sirius, but I get caught for just thinking about it." The friendship between Maggie Owens and Sirius Black was an unholy union with much potential. It was shame that their similar fatal flaw kept them from uncovering it.
1. Prologue

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

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June 21, 1981

A slim figure walked briskly back and forth in front of a pub, keeping her arms crossed while she did so. She wore a black coat, with a grey scarf wrapped elaborately around her head that kept passerby's from discerning her features. A bell ringed as a pair of guys walked unsteadily out the entrance door.

As they started their way down the street one of the guys eyed the woman, since despite the precautions, her clothing alluded to a slim, feminine figure. The guy nudged his friend before letting out a whistle, with the aim to catch the lady's attention.

The woman whirled quickly on her heel in seconds to face her company, her green eyes luminescent due to the street light, were openly hostile. Her hand pulled out what seemed to be a delicate stick from a her coat pocket. After eyeing the young men suspiciously, the one who whistled overheard the women mutter words that seemed to be a foreign language under her breath, and made a sharp gesture with her stick.

These young men would wake up in their flat the next day, relatively unharmed, but with a distinct lack of memories of their night out.

As the men stumbled off, the women eyed her watch one final time, confirming that it was indeed five in the morning, before walking into the pub, a jingle of bells signaling her entrance to the lone bartender. The bartender nodded to a nearby table. The lady sat at the table and loosened her scarf, which revealed a comely face along with loose strands of wine colored hair. The bartender walked to the table along with pot a coffee and two to mugs. Before the bartender could properly greet the lady she once again grabbed her _wand_ of it's pocket,without rising from her seat, aimed it point blank at the bartender.

"What favor did you ask of me last time we met?" asked the lady.

"I asked you to keep the birth of my child a secret from her father." replied the bartender, her dark eyes keenly observing the lady.

"My turn, what was the reason you willing to risk meeting with me?" questioned the bartender as she sat across from the lady, set down the mugs and began pouring coffee.

"I asked you to lend me your _Pancha Mahabhuta_ spell book, green dragon scales, mermaid tears, and elf blood." said the lady.

The young bartender nodded and walked behind the bar and opened a cupboard. Green eyes observed the bartender and noted that her sandalwood colored hair grown a foot in length, and that aside from the dark circles under her eyes, her former classmate looked well enough. Given the circumstances.

The bartender once again set across from the lady and displayed the previously listed contents.

The green eyed lady clucked her tong," Really Margaret, couldn't you show more care going about our situation. Do you have any form of protection at this pub? You didn't know I was who I appeared to be when I walked in. We're in the middle of a war, can anyone really just stroll in here?"

Margaret wrinkled her nose at the sound of her named, but flashed a dimpled smile none the less as she she responded." I have certain measures in place in the event that someone unwelcome tries to enter the pub. Given my location and my job, the possibility of such an event is highly unlikely."

The lady let out a snort in response to her friends arrogance.

Margaret let her friend inspect the items before continuing with her questions.

"I know we have an don't ask, don't tell policy in regards to family, but you've had your own baby since the last time I saw you. I know you're under hard times, but would you take offense to me offering my congratulations?" questioned Margaret.

For the first time that evening, the green eyed lady showed the hint of a smile.

"He became a year old at the end of July. Him and my husband are the most important people in my life. They are the reason why I'm here." While the lady began her answer with a smile, her features had once again hardened.

"Listen, I really am grateful to you for helping me out. I know that after Hogwarts and the birth of your baby you wanted no contact with the magical world for as long as you could help it. While I didn't like your choices I respected them and did my best to keep my distance." said the lady.

Margaret's face displayed no emotions as she said," Truth be told, I wanted to contact you much sooner but we parted on harsh terms. I said some stuff about not wanting to be apart of the war efforts or join the order. You said some stuff about me being a coward and to never reach out to you again due to how I am an awful, horrendous, miserable excuse of a person."

Margaret's company winced at re account of her old words.

"But you knew that despite my misgivings, if you really needed the help I would have-"

"Yea I know. Truth be told I am something of hermit with a three year old as my only company. I love my kid but she's not much of a conversationalist. Anyhow, reaching out too you seems to be a moot point since you are basically untraceable."

By now both women had relaxed postures, there eyes alight with mirth as they both discovered that past past disagreements were long forgotten.

"Honestly, with your opportunities outside of Hogwarts, I cant believe you are working at a pub."

Margaret shrugged." It's not so bad. When work becomes unbelievably dreary I mix potions with my drinks to help the night along. I even read fortunes on the side, you would not believe how much I make on tips."

Her friend gasped. "Mag- Margaret tell me you don't. It's dangerous giving potions to muggles-"

Margaret cut her friend off. " It's all in good humor. Some pepper up cocktail here, a little love potions margarita over there to move things along. No harm no foul."

The green eyed lady let out a laugh as her friend told her stories of her escapades.

In the end, the lady with wine colored hair and green eyes spared only an hour catching up with her friend. The sun was barley starting to rise outside as she re wrapped her scarf they made plans to meet again at another safe location.

They lady and the bartender parted with a hug and amicable words.

"Take care of yourself and that baby of yours, Margaret Owens."

"You do the same with yourself and your family Lily Eva- my bad, Mrs Potter."


	2. Chapter 1: Margaret

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Chapter 1:

 **September, 1977**

"Maggie I'm sorry to have to end things this way." said Thomas McLaggen.

Instead of meeting his gaze, Maggie kept her eyes on his tie, which was made up of gold and scarlet colors.

"Why even bother being with me when all you ever wanted was to be with her." said Maggie, as she met met Thomas's blue eyes.

Hours later, while she worked on her homework in the Ravenclaw common rooms, Maggie reflected on her relationship with Thomas. They started dating early sixth year. They met in September at a Slugclub meeting. It made sense that the two students had not met before due too their different house statuses. Thomas seemed to be enchanted by Maggie, a muggleborn Ravenclaw who wasn't too outspoken.

"Well, it's not like the relationship was going anywhere anyways."said Lena Parkers, from her place on a blue chair.

"Thanks Lena, couldn't you have let me in on that fact." said Maggie, her face tinged red. It was apparent to everyone but her that her relationship had no chance.

"Let's look at the facts. Thomas McLaggen was your first boyfriend. He was absolutely smitten with you, and he was relentless in his efforts about letting you know exactly how much he fancied you. No guy had paid that much attention before,not that mention that he is rather nice to look at, you really didn't have a chance. It's not like he's a big loss. Thomas McLaggen is an arrogant snot." When she finished her analysis of the situation, Lena yawned continued reading her Witchy Women magazine.

Knowing she was seconds away from snapping at Lena, Maggie walked across the room and laid down on a couch. Her and Lena attended Hogwarts, a school for wizards and witches alike. When she was eleven a brown spotted owl delivered a letter that changed the course her life might have taken.

As she laid there, studying the star embedded ceiling, she contemplated her friendship with Lena. They met after they were both sorted into Ravenclaw. Maggie was muggleborn and had plenty of questions, which Lena was qualified to answer given her half- blood genetic makeup. They bonded over their lack of father figures and a fascination with the Ruby Bloom book series.

Time went by and third year came along. Lena was always pretty, but during third year she suddenly become absolutely lovely. Adam Smith, a forth year Gryffindor asked Lena to Hogmeads. Lena had her first kiss under a tree nearby the shrieking shack. Lena cried on Maggie when Adam broke up with her to date Mary MacDonald. Since then guys had come and gone in Lena's life. With her strawberry blond hair and hazel eyes, there wasn't exactly a mystery why. Despite the rumors that Lena was a tart, Maggie knew that Lena simply had a penchant for falling in love easily, and rarely ever with a guy with honorable intentions. Up until she was sixteen, Maggie lived vicariously through Lena.

Just as Maggie began to drift off, she was suddenly shaken harshly awake be Lena.

"Let's go." Was all she said before exiting the common room. Maggie followed Lena through the spiraling staircase, very confused and sleepy. They made their way through the halls and to the kitchens.

"Did you and Riley Andrews break up too?" asked Maggie, wondering how Lena accomplished to bite her tongue while she ranted on about Thomas. Lena and Maggie's kitchen routine was usually reserved for Lena's breakups.

"No, but you've had a breakup and your sad, and I have firewhiskey and chocolate stored here for such horrid occasions." said Lena as she grabbed a paper bag form a nearby shelf.

Instead of making their way to a table, Lena and Maggie sat against a wall as they exchanged woes. They drank their firewhiskey straight from the bottle and it wasn't too long before they started slurring their words.

"Why aren't you with Riley tonight?" said Maggie. It was Friday night after all..

"Ehh- he's no fun tonight. Gryffindor slaughtered Hufflepuff during quidditch today."

"There was a quidditch game today?" questioned Maggie out loud, genuinely baffled by that information.

Lena let out a laugh. "Yeah. I'm sorry if I sounded too cavalier about your breakup earlier. I've been through so many, I forget this is a first for you. I know it stings like a bitch right now, but that will dull eventually." Lena took a swig from the firewhiskey bottle.

"It's okay. You're right though. Thomas wasn't a huge loss. I had less of an infatuation with him, of more one with the thought of having a boyfriend." Maggie loathed admitting the thought out loud. Her and Thomas were together for almost a year. **'** _What a waste of time.'t_ hought Maggie.

"Why didn't you tell me what you thought of him sooner?" asked Maggie.

"You've been there for me during the aftermath of all my breakups-"

"Lets see, there was: Leo Connors, James Potter, Tony Wilkes.."

"Alright, alright enough. I get it, I'm a slag." Giggled Lena, her face glowing with a pretty flush that was only ever brought along by alcohol. "My point is, it was about time you had a crappy boyfriend yourself, and I was going to see you through your first relationship. In the very beginning you guys did seem genuinely smitten with each other. You know me, I don't pick up if the guy is rat until the very end, when it's too late."

"You think our father's abandoning us left us with more daddy issues than I originally thought?" questioned Maggie.

"I know it. My mother is as caring mermaid,those fickle bitch fishes, it's no wonder I'm in love with every other guy. Your mom has a new guy every other year since your dad left, the reason you've held out going after guy makes sense to me. And dating Thomas McLaggen to top things off, he's as exciting as a slug."

"Thank you ma'am for your educated insight." responded Maggie dryly.

Lena glanced at a clock on the kitchen wall.

"It's nearly two in the morning, our room mates should start tripping their way to the common room any minute now." Both room mates had left hours earlier to attend an Gryffindor after quidditch party.

Arms linked, Lena and Maggie made their way slowly but surely back to their common room.

Once they were safely in their room they collapsed onto their respective beds.

After spending Sunday moping about and nursing hangovers, Monday came around. At half past six in the morning, Maggie was braiding her hair while Lena took extra care to put on her makeup. Maggie was forever envious of Lena's cat shaped hazel eyes. Her own eyes were big and a brown so dark they blended with the iris. Her light brown hair was pin straight and in a simple braid that fell just below her breast. Maggie thought that she was fairly attractive, some might even say pretty. Still, she couldn't help but feel washed out compared to the ever vivacious Lena.

"Hey I'm go catch up with Andrew." said Lena, grabbing her school bag on her way out the door.

"I thought she was with Clemons." asked Rose, a fellow seventh year Ravenclaw.

"Nah, Andrews is her boy toy of the week." clarified Natalie.

For the most part Maggie's roommates were nice enough,and while they were on amicable terms with Maggie and Lena, they apparently could not help but gossip about Lena's affairs. Not in the mood to hear their speculations, Maggie quickly turned the topic.

"So lady's, what can tell me about Mary Simmons?"

Maggie sat with Rose and Natalie at breakfast, content to to listen to them talk while she occasionally chimed in. However, she spent the better part of the morning turning over the information she had been given in her head. Mary Simmons was a pureblood, in Gryffindor, and very well connected. From her spot at the Ravenclaw table, Maggie saw first hand that Mary was very classically beautiful. While that probably helped Thomas McLaggen profess his love for Mary, she had inkling that her well known novelists parents really sweetened the deal. If the McLaggen family was anything, they were well connected.

Maggie's advanced potions class contained people from all houses. Slughorn paired Maggie with Lily Evans, a well known Gryffindor and this years head girl.

" Miss Evans and Miss Owens, I expect that you will attend this weekends club meeting. Miss Owens, a representative from the Department of Mysteries will be there." Slughorn left their station with a smile on his face.

Maggie chewed her lip as she contemplated whether it would be a smart choice or not to skip the club meeting. Since she was a muggleborn, she had work harder to distinguish herself from her more known classmates. Skipping this weeks Slughorn meeting would accomplish more harm than good given how elusive the job at the Department of mysteries was.

"So, you're thinking of working for the Dept. of Mysteries? And thanks for taking care of the roaches." questioned Lily.

Maggie cleared her throat as she finished chopping the dead fire roaches.

"No, problem. Thanks for taking care of.. everything else." said Maggie, raising an eyebrow at Lily's corner of the worktable. The potion was nearly done.

"Sorry, I must have made this potion a dozen times and was working on autopilot. And you seem to be distracted yourself." said Lily as Maggie stirred the roach bits into the potion.

"Well, to answer you earlier question, yes I am trying to get a job at the Department of Mysteries. I just don't know if they'll even find me qualified to file their papers."said Maggie.

"Well, if I recall correctly you're the top of most classes and a shoe in. Plus dating McLaggen should help some." said Lily smiling.

"Actually, me and Thomas broke up, on Saturday. To be with Mary Simmons." Maggie smiled while she spoke, but her eyes betrayed her.

Lily's green eyes widened in shock."Wow. Wait, not wow. That's not what I meant. I mean I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for over sharing. But hey, at least now I know where his priorities lie."

As class came to an end Lily exited with Maggie.

"Hey Evans, mind if I walk you to charms. We still need to discuss the patrol schedule." said a tall lanky seventh year Gryffindor leaning against a nearby wall, a headboy badge gleaming on his chest.

"Sure Potter, bye Maggie." said Lily. Maggie smiled and waved bye.

"Later Margaret." said the shaggy haired teenager waggling his eyebrows.

Maggie flashed him a dimpled smiled and flipped James Potter the bird.

Maggie had been going through her day in daze, and it was the way James and Lily actually speaking in pleasant terms to each that broke her out of it.

James became aware that Maggie loathed her actual name during forth year, during his brief relationship with Lena. If a courtship that consisted primarily of snogging and lasted less than two weeks could be considered a relationship. James noticed that Maggie wrinkled her nose during the very few number of times people called her Margaret. Now he never called her by any other name. While Maggie and James were on a first name basis, it didn't extend much beyond that. Like the rest of the student's in their year, Maggie was always hearing about Lily and James infamous confrontations. One of them was the reason Lena and James didn't make it.

Maggie went through the motions for the rest of the day, which included spending a little over two hours in the library studying for Ancient Runes. Despite her confessions, Maggie was surprised to find that she wasn't as upset as she thought over the breakup. Her pride, however, had taken a bit of a hit.


	3. Chapter 2: Sparkly Purple Drink

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Chapter 2: Sparkly Purple Drink

 **September, 1977**

"Mary, Mary. Quite contrary." said Lena as she eyed Mary Simmons in the library.

Maggie kicked Lena under the table.

"Ow" mouthed Lena before returning to her work.

It was now Friday, and most people new of Maggie's breakup. Some even care to speculate the reason why. Take one girl who wasn't well known by most social circle's, and one guy who rubbed people the wrong way on the account that he couldn't go five minutes without mentioning how he spent last summer spending time with Lou Vee. Yes, _the_ Lou Vee (a well known dragon tamer). Replace Lou Vee with name of a famous quidditch player or sorcerer. The people who now know Maggie's name still didn't quite think much of her, and they cared even less about her breakup.

Maggie had overheard from some sixth year Hufflepuff girls in the dingy, stony cold bathroom just exactly how her personal life was not interesting enough for anyone to bother with. When she first met in the library with Lena, she told her this account.

"Well my dear, I would prefer less attention from the masses. At least people aren't betting on how long you'll last in a relationship with your boyfriend, which consequently actually pushes the breakup up along since said boyfriend begins picking fights with said people and takes out his anger on you." said Lena.

Lena shared the information rather snappily, and hadn't spoken again until she saw Mary.

"No flipping way. Maggie, did Thomas said he was breaking up with you because he was already together with Mary, or something?"

"He might as well have. From what I gathered, as soon as they are out of Hogwarts their engagement is expected to last a number of days before they'll have a tasteful wedding."

When Natalie and Rose, Maggie's room mates, had shared the information they had had about how the McLaggen and Simmons family and how they didn't stray to far from wizard pureblood tradition, the shock was displayed plainly for them see on her pale face. And she may or may not have snapped the quill she had been twirling in her hand in half.

Even Thomas didn't explain to her the extent of how tied he was to Mary when he was breaking up with her.

"Well, it looks like Miss Mary is sowing her wild oats right now before married life slaps her in the face." said Lena, with one elegant eyebrow raised. Her lips were pursed as she looked back down to her book.

Maggie turned her head to glance at the display Lena was talking about. This was a bit of a workout for Maggie since she had to turn her chair out wards so that she could look angle her body properly to look behind the bookcase.

 _'Couldn't Lena have just told me what she saw.'_ thought Maggie.

Decidedly, the answer was no. Words would not have done justice for what she saw, which was Mary Simmons backed into a corner by an infamous fellow seventh year, who had his hands under her shirt as he whispered in her ear. To someone who didn't follow gossip he might have been unrecognizable. However his sable hair and his brazen act of snogging in the library, and not even deeper into the library where more preferable dark corners could be found. Mary's oat could only be one person.

Maggie fixed her chair and turned back towards Lena.

"You know what I call bullshit on. The fact that I haven't been with as many guys as the public or these _gentlemen_ I bide my time with would have you believe, yet Sirius Black can shag every other girl here and keep a good reputation in tact. And if anything, we've probably only heard about half his conquest."

By the time Lena ended her rant she had pressed her quill so harshly against her parchment that the quill broke through the flimsy material and scratched the table.

Well, Lena wasn't wrong. If the rumors were anything to go by, there were a number of girls who spent the night with Sirius Black. With the agreement that neither party would disclose their evening with anyone.

An hour later Lena left to go spend some time with her boyfriend. Mary and Sirius left half an hour before her, with swollen lips and mussed hair. Frankly, Maggie didn't give a shit of how Sirius Black, or anyone else spent their free time. If anything she was rooting for them, having no doubt that this particular scandal would reach Thomas McLaggen by lunch. Marauder gossip high priority and highly in demand.

Maggie gathered her work and books. She had to return one to it's bookshelf before she could make her way to dinner. She noticed out of the corner of her eye someone entering the library, but didn't know who it was until after she turned away from putting her book back.

"Mags, can we talk for a bit."

Maggie look up into the oh so very blue eyes of Thomas McLaggen. He was so close she took a not so subtle step backwards and bumped her head onto a book from the shelf.

Maggie flushed to being under Thomas's unwavering gaze. She had been fond of his 6 feet and 4 inches of height given her 5'8 stature. As per usual his wheat colored hair was neatly combed and his overall appearance was impeccable. Maybe that's why her eyes were immediately drawn to his hands. Thomas had an awful nail biting problem and at the moment he had none to speak of.

"I was hasty when I broke up with you, and I was wondering if you would consider taking me back." as he said this he stepped so close that they could stick a piece of parchment between them and it wouldn't fall to the floor.

"Now, why would I want that?" questioned Maggie. "Could it be because your fiance isn't ready to commit, the fact that she was snogging with Sirius Black earlier, and didn't do you the decency of keeping their tryst in a broom closet. Would I really would have appreciated about a year ago would be you mentioning your engagement. Care to explain why you couldn't be bothered with the courtesy?"

While Maggie started her interrogation with a whisper, her voice has rose steadily to the end.

That was why Maggie and Thomas found themselves wandering through the hallways, since Madam Prince would not abide such offensive noise in her library.

"Well, are you going to give me an answer?" said Maggie.

"I knew about the possibility of an engagement during the summer before sixth year,when I spent my summer with-" Thomas cut himself off when he saw Maggie roll her eyes.

"That's not important. My parents hadn't had an arranged marriage so I wrongfully thought they would force one on me. At the time even they didn't think there was someone who they could match me up with. When we started dating I didn't want to bother you with pureblood politics. Which you clearly don't understand given how angry you are."

It was possible that Thomas had more to share, but this was about the time she started tuning him out.

"Well, what happened next." said Lena. After Maggie's meeting with Thomas she stormed away to a staircase that thankfully began to move away when she stepped on it, leaving Thomas abandoned on the hall.

It was now after dinner. Lena, being the dutiful friend that she was, brought Maggie carrot soup and pumpkin bread from the dinner table. Well supposedly pumpkin bread had been involved, but Lena ate it as she hiked up the winded staircase that was Ravenclaw tower.

"And pipe down about the pumpkin bread. I'll buy you a loaf of it next Hogsmead trip, now go on." said Lena, waving her hand impatiently.

"It was blur of him telling me I could never understand the pressure he's under because I'm a muggleborn. Which reminded me to ask why his parents followed through with his engagement. Apparently Thomas hadn't told them about me until the summer and that's when they realized he might be serious about un-purifying their bloodline by slumming it with a muggleborn who could never hope to match his potential."

Lena rolled her. "They're pure blood elitist who don't understand how you're more brilliant than their son could hope to be. Fuck em'."

Maggie smiled at Lena's loyal anger. Pissed off as she might be, it was the sort of emotion that passed through Maggie quickly. She didn't have it in her to be bothered to hold a grudge. Things were what they were, or so Maggie thought.

With the way Thomas patronized her today, something she overlooked when they were in a relationship, was something she couldn't stand to bother with anymore. Evidently, Thomas wasn't going to change his way anytime soon. Any affection he might have towards her wasn't going to inspire him to change his habit. The cleanest way to go about her ordeal with Thomas was to stop putting herself in a situation where she would inevitably would be hurt. That required walking away from Thomas before she would push him down a staircase.

Maggie explained her logic to Lena, who supported Maggie's decision. However Maggie was well aware from past rants that Lena didn't understand it. Half of Lena relationships ended with yelling and fighting, tears and hexes. Maybe snog with a new guy in front of the one who was let go. No, Maggie's and Lena's personality's weren't exactly synchronized.

"I've found you the perfect dress for Slughorns dinner tonight. You need to look stunning if you're going to show your face at that McLaggen fest." squealed Lena as she stepped into to the door room after lunch time.

Hogsmead weekend overlapped with Slughorns get together and Maggie had opted to stay in order to have her homework be done for the week. Lena went out with her boyfriend, Riley Andrews. Aside from a couple of fights their relationship seemed to be steady. Lena was looking stunning herself, having dressed in black tights and a red long sleeved dress for her day out.

As Maggie got ready for the evening she also mentally readied herself for the Lena dubbed McLaggen week. Lena wasn't wrong, Slughorn fawned over Thomas at these meetings since his family helped provide famous wizards and witches alike to attend these dinners. While students like Thomas McLaggen and Lily Evans had been going to these dinners for years, Maggie hadn't shown up on Slughorns radar until sixth year. Incidentally, thanks to Thomas. He had insisted on bringing her as his date for Slughorns Holiday party the previous year and went on about how he would not have managed to keep afloat in his Ancient Runes class without Maggie's tutoring.

Slughorn had verified for himself by checking with Professor Summer. He picked up how despite Maggie's lack of effort most of the week during potions class, she still managed to brew a flawless Dragon Pox Elixir in record time with no partner. And suddenly she was invited to Slug Club meetings on her own merit.

Maggie studied herself in the mirror. Lena had bought her a lacy, long sleeved navy dress that was so dark it almost appeared black. Lena insisted that Maggie where her sparkly heals, but Maggie thought that was to much for a dinner, and opted for slim black boots. Lena curled Maggie's hair and applied some simple makeup.

Maggie and Lena parted ways their way to dinner, and Maggie walked to the fifth floor hallways and walked into Slughorns classroom. The brick walled classroom no longer contained desks, only one long dinner table into the center on the room. Various students, fourth years and up, were already there. As Maggie picked grabbed a sparkly purple drink from the table, she found that she was surprised at how most of the students invited were already there.

The meeting started officially six, yet people didn't usually start showing up until half past that time as indicated by previous meetings. Maggie spotted Mclaggen chatting with Slughorn and made her way to the opposite side to the room. The clock said it was ten minutes to dinner, which was at seven. The only reason Maggie went to this meeting in particular was to meet an employ from the department of mysteries.

"Long time, no see Margaret." said a familiar teasing voice.

"Hiya James." said Maggie to James Potter. James, with his twinkling hazel eyes and messy dark hair that even she wanted to run her fingers through once upon a time.

"I wanted to offer my condolences on your breakup with McLaggen. He gave a bad name to all Gryffindors. You redeemed him, somewhat." said James as he leaned against the wall.

Maggie cleared her throat and sipped her drink.

"Thanks for your.. condolences. So, why has everyone here chosen to be here early?" said Maggie.

"Slughorn announced yesterday that Eric Porter was going to be here today. Whose on Australia quidditch team. A chaser, ever since he's been on the team they haven't lost a game. They won the championship." James kept talking after not getting a reaction from Maggie.

He probably would have continued the verbal biography if Maggie hadn't interrupted.

"I get it, big quidditch star, a beater-"

"Chaser, and the only reason I bothered making an appearance. Clearly you have different priorities for being here. And I used to think so highly of you. Tsk tsk." said James, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Maggie smiled and lightly elbowed him."Well if you must know, a representative from the department of mysteries is supposed to make an appearance. I wanted to introduce myself Lou Clare and make a positive impression."

"Lou Clare is right over there follow my lead." said James as lightly gripped Maggie's elbow led her to another corner of the room.

"Miss Clare, I don't know if you remember me, I'm James Potter." said James to Lou Clare, the dept. of mysteries representative. Lou Clare was an aged women a little over five feet with wide set eyes and her blonde hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail.

"Mr. Potter, I remember you from your frequent visits to your fathers office this summer, who is you friend?" said Clare politely.

"This is Miss Margaret Owens, she's at the top of our class and interested in your department. If you will ladies excuse me." smiled James Potter as he walked away.

"Miss Owens is it? Why are you interested in the Department of Mysteries?" asked Clare.

"Originally? I became fascinated with ancient runes my forth year and during my sixth year I learned that the majority of ancient runes experts went on to join your department." said Maggie, keeping both hand around her drink to keep herself from twirling her hair.

When Maggie finished her explanation she heard a very faint wolf howl from a nearby window that faced the forbidden forest.

Clare's must have also heard it. She smiled."It's full moon out tonight you know. I'll contact your professor to send me your class records. If everything checks out I'll contact you for a formal interview. Have a good evening Miss Owens."

"Thank you for the opportunity Miss Clare." said Maggie as Clare's nodded her goodbye.

Maggie looked around the room for James as everyone began sitting for dinner. As she took her own seat she noted that he must have sneaked out. Well, it made sense as he had already met his quidditch idol.

Maggie saw Lily Evans at the opposite end of the table, her red hair in a twist. Maggie noticed that Lily also seemed to be looking around room to, her eyes searching for something. Maggie finished the her shiny berry flavored drink when everything around appeared cloudy as she slumped backwards on her chair. She noticed how everyone around her appeared to have cherry red drinks. Her eyelids seemed so heavy she closed them, and then everything went dark.


End file.
